Jerry Lawler's Scary Heart Attack On WWE Raw, Explained
When fans tune in to pro wrestling programming, an undeniable part of the appeal is getting to witness a human demolition derby. From moves as basic as arm drags and body slams to top rope elbow drops through announce tables, choreographed violence is an essential part of the fun. Nonetheless, there are those times when something unexpected and very real happens and someone really does get hurt. One of the most stark examples of this happened outside the ring on the September 10, 2012 episode of WWE Raw, when Jerry Lawler suffered a very real heart attack, live at the broadcast table after he'd wrestled a match earlier in the evening.
Jerry Lawler Worked His Final WWE Match The Night Of His Heart Attack
The official medical account of Jerry Lawler’s heart attack was “unexplained cardiac arrest.” The King’s own account has suggested, however, that it wasn’t so unexplained at all. He pinned responsibility on Dolph Ziggler.
Earlier on the Raw when Lawler suffered his heart attack, he worked a tag team match paired with Randy Orton against CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. Lawler stated in a number of shoot comments that he was startled at The Show Off’s intensity in delivering a stiff, rapid-fire series of elbow drops to him, and thought to himself that he pined for the days when wrestlers only pretended to hurt each other when working a match.
Related: 10 WWE Wrestlers Who Are Known For Working StiffThe King re-purposed this situation in 2022 to comments on Raw Talk (h/t TJR Wrestling) that were more in character than a shoot. He said plainly, “Dolph Ziggler is the guy that caused me to have a cardiac arrest …he gave me 10 elbows to my chest and that trauma caused my heart to stop.” In reality, it hardly seems fair to blame Ziggler, who was just a wrestler working a match. Nonetheless, his more physical style did seem to catch the older Lawler off guard and may or may not have contributed to what ended up happening to him later in the broadcast.
Jerry Lawler Was On WWE Broadcast Duty When He Had His Heart Attack
Jerry Lawler had resumed his color commentator duties after wrestling when disaster struck. Michael Cole was on play-by-play duty with The King when it happened and discussed the experience on a visit to Busted Open Radio (h/t Bleacher Report). Cole recalled that in the middle of calling a match he heard Lawler snoring, and thought he might be doing a callback to an earlier heel shtick he’d used to make fun of a boring wrestler or match. “Then I looked over … and Jerry was laying down on the table,” Cole recalled. He went on to explain he hit the mute switch on his commentary equipment and screamed for a doctor.
While it was very scary for someone to have a heart attack on live TV. Nonetheless, Lawler was actually quite lucky that if he was going to go through this experience, it happened not only publicly, but where WWE had expert medical professionals readily at hand to give him the help he needed. Cole had the unenviable responsiblity of explaining to fans what happened afterward, with Vince McMahon feeding guidance through his headset.
WWE Wouldn’t Allow Jerry Lawler To Wrestle Again
WWE understandably has not allowed Jerry Lawler to wrestle for them again since his heart attack. Though Lawler has lamented that choice in interviews—implying he thinks they’re being overly cautious—there are clear reasons why he shouldn’t be wrestling, or at least why a company with WWE’s profile wouldn’t want to be responsible for him wrestling on their stage.
Related: 10 Active Wrestlers Who Have Competed For Way Longer Than We ExpectedIt is worth noting, however, that Lawler has continued to wrestle on the indies, particularly in his home region in and around Memphis, Tennessee. The King works a relatively safe style and likely has a reasonable sense of his limitations, and so has probably been relatively responsible in his choices. Still, after such a scary incident so soon after his last nationally televised match, booking Lawler to wrestle has to feel like a dicey proposition for most promoters.
Jerry Lawler is a legend of wrestling, often underrated for how much of his best work happened on regional stages. Just the same, from his legendary worked shoot program with Andy Kaufman, to winning the AWA World Championship, to all of his in-ring and commentary antics in WWE, he’s a wrestling personality that fans will never forget. It’s scary to think the world almost lost him on live TV, and fortunate he recovered from his heart attack on WWE Raw.
